Backsliding in area of constitutional safeguards and independent institutions, corruption control, and general equality and minorities

This chapter discusses whether we have witnessed soft backsliding in (particular forms of) corruption and corruption control in EU member states, and to what extent backsliding may be attributed to EU wide crises, in particular the economic crisis. It finds no evidence of a direct link between backsliding in corruption and corruption control and the crisis, although the latter had an indirect impact. The European Commission emerged as the key EU institution to assume responsibility for the policy area, but efforts to create a new plank of EU activity have been halted, suggesting that corruption as a policy issue is not perceived as sufficiently pressing to prompt more decisive intervention. The paper concludes that this underestimates the magnitude and nature of the negative impact of corruption on the EU’s economic and political system.